Monday, November 21, 2016

Thankful for the Three D's

Life is like paddling a
canoe through rapids, still water, crooks and eddies on a winding river like
the Cossatot. We only see a piece of the river at a time; but above it, say in
a forestry helicopter, the whole trip is apparent. In my canoe journey, I am
thankful for the pilot in the helicopter and the three “D’s”—namely, dovetailing,
direction and destination.

You have noticed, I am
sure, that many circumstances of life dovetail in the most intricate ways. It
is as if some great intelligent designer arranged well-positioned points of
intersection in often unlikely ways. For example, think back to the moments you
met and developed relationships with people who have turned out to be essential
companions in your earthly journey. Was there something odd or unusual about
the meetings? Could you just as easily have not been there when the individuals
emerged? That’s what I mean—we see an enigmatic and well-timed event planner
behind our relationships. The same is true of significant events of our lives.
Ponder the way you came into your profession, your livelihood, your avocations
and, yes, even your tastes. There is, in short, a clandestine purpose that gets
clarified systematically in a universal system of dovetailing that often seems
random but, upon reflection, is methodical. Forrest Gump pointed out at Jenny’s
grave that life seems both random and planned and Hamlet of Denmark contended
that there is method in this madness. Pondering the ostensibly arbitrary
motions of the weirdly spiraling DNA ladder, our gratitude is so great that we
want to hug the Danish prince and the Alabama shrimper.

As to direction in life,
that same intelligent design seems to be at work. Like everyone I know, I have
gone through many periods of “what ifs” and “if onlys.” Not many days pass that
don’t contain some speculation of, “Wish I’d said that,” or “What if I had just
walked away.” But there is a North Star pull that we recognize only in
retrospect, a road sign that was not there as we passed it, but clearly there in
the rear-view mirror. Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out that all things take on a
pleasing form in the eyes of memory—maybe that is why, we feel aimless in the
moment but see the design looking back, that is, after we get to where we were
going—you know, destination.

Does anyone ever arrive?
Are we not continually striving rather than arriving? I remember Peggy Lee’s
haunting song, “Is that all there is?” It is a song about this very thing. When
we achieve some goal, be in graduation or retirement, there is something that compels
us to move on to other goals. The phrase “You’ve got it made” is meaningless.
In the Christian worldview, for example, some believe that the salvation
experience is all there is to the Christian walk. Nope. Because Christians
recognize the great cost paid for salvation, we are compelled to live a life motivated
by awareness of the price paid, thus becoming self-sacrificial as well.

So, I am deeply grateful
for the three “D’s” of life, for all the enigmatic but wondrous dovetailing
that continues to offer new adventures, for the direction that was dim as I
walked the road but crystal clear in retrospect and for the destination planned
for me, a greater place than ever entered the mind of man. There is a river.
There is also a pilot above it who understands and influences the whole trip.